Reply to 2/22/24 BOE meeting

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Vote in new members. They are all very in over their heads. [/quote]

The problem is most of the new people running would be in even deeper over their heads.[/quote]

Not that she would have every answer in every education domain, but, given her focus on education funding, this is the kind of thing where, as a BOE member, Laura Stewart would run rings around MCPS instead of the current BOE members asking tepid questions without follow-up as MCPS dissembles.[/quote]

Based on what I have been able to find online by searching for her position on issues, the only thing Laura Stewart knows about school funding is that rather than having wealthy real estate developers pay impact fees for their developments to help fund schools, she prefers to force homeowners and other moco citizens to pay for the impact of these developments by increasing our taxes. [/quote]

Eh...You haven't searched much, then, have you? 
 That impact fee bit is a line straight from her opposition, and reflects her general advocacy for housing.  It's the County Council, in its infinite wisdom, that keeps making those impact fee exemptions, over County Executive veto, associated with the housing push, clearly showing where their loyalties lie (and in whose pocket they reside).

Of course that Council bent means pretty much anyone advocating for housing can be painted in that pro-developer light.  Pretty run of the mill to do so in a political campaign.

Personally, I'd agree with the notion that we shouldn't be handicapping school funding, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and that increases to transfer tax are not the right way to make things whole.  Developers would be just fine without the impact tax abatement, but they are content to sit on things until they get a Council like the one we have that lets them have their cake and eat it, too.

Back to Stewart, though.  She's been advocating for school funding for years at both state and local levels.  She's pretty much the most knowledgeable person that MCCPTA has in that regard.  Her public testimony to the BOE usually provides more meaningful information on which they can chew in the couple of minutes that she gets than the hour(s) of MCPS presentations that follow.  And that's considerably less than she's been able to discuss with PTA and other folks outside of the confines of CESC.

You could look for some of that.  Or really anything beyond that which an opponent is saying about her.  Or, you could keep hurling that "raise taxes" trope as if it is just like that and it's the only thing out there.[/quote]

Laura Stewart is a prolific twitter poster and has a wealth of history of her advocacy and work on school funding issues. Just spend a few minutes on her twitter feed to see how deep her experience runs here. [/quote]

I tried looking at her X feed for the wealth of history but it’s private. And for what it’s worth, her housing advocacy has been the typical supply side economics proposals that developers have pushed. None of it has increased supply or reduced prices, but if you own shares of a REIT, you’ve done really well. [/quote]

Yup on the short-sightedness of that developer-pushed agenda that the County Council swallowed hook, line and sinker (if they didn't generate it, themselves). But...

There's *plenty* of non-Twitter stuff if you bother to look instead of just banging that "she took her personal Twitter feed private when she declared herself a candidate!" pearl-cutching drum.

Stewart's funding advocacy goes well beyond "give us more transfer tax" (the only option the Council was considering to even begin to make up the sxhool capital program shortfall from decades-long underfunding) to federal and state funding sources.

And her understanding of the Title I/related funding/criteria change impacts is leagues ahead of anything demonstrated by the current BOE members.[/quote]

First, it was a post supportive of Stewart that directed people to the now-private twitter account, so it’s fair to point out that it can’t be viewed by the overwhelming majority of voters.

Second, she also supported cutting taxes on developers, which the council did right after raising taxes on everyone else, which she also supported even though it ultimately proved unnecessary (the money didn’t go to education). Stewart weighed in on all of this without an understanding of the underlying dynamics or a critical examination of whether similar policies had ever produced the claimed outcome here. [/quote]

Nice cut-out of the rest of that post (restored, now, for any interested in clicking to show earlier posts).  There's bolding available if you want to respond to a particular part.  Intentionally removing that context undercuts the validity of your response.

Again, there's more than just Twitter out there, but feel free to keep beating that drum as though it is the only thing that possibly could tell you about a candidate.  You're right that nobody should be referencing it if not available, but...

If you did bother to look beyond X, you'd find there's far more to Stewart's contributions toward and understanding of school funding issues than an unfortunate support of politically expedient County Council-driven tax initiatives ostensibly aimed at providing housing options on the one hand and revenue on the other that she hoped would be tied to sorely needed school improvements.[/quote]

I have seen her testimony. Some of it is good. Some of it is pretty poorly informed. She got played on the tax issues by moneyed interests, and it’s concerning how readily she took up their talking points.

I wouldn’t have brought up her private X account if you hadn’t referred people there. [/quote]

So, I wasn't the poster who suggested looking at her twitter, but was the one who responded after that to you or to whichever person jumped on that with the twin drums that we've seen elsewhere -- personal twitter now private & the tax thing.

If I were running for public office or became a public figure, I probably would make my social media private (if it wasn't already).  Though taxes are needed to fund public schools, I agree the shift of burden from developers to homeowners was the wrong thing to do, but the advocacy she undertook, there, was a bit more nuanced, as has been laid out, above.

If you're voting based on that two-trick pony, that's your decision.  Regarding Title I and school funding generally, though, Stewart has shown considerably greater understanding than any currently on the BOE.  Where, besides the one aspect of impact/transfer taxes, are you drawing the claim that her advocacy was poorly informed?[/quote]

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